Sugar Cookie Recipe

After much research and The Great Sugar Cookie Experiment I am happy to have a sugar cookie recipe that is perfect, in my humble opinion, for decorating with my favorite royal icing. This is a vanilla almond sugar cookie recipe and not only is it delicious, but the cookies are sturdy enough for both decorating and shipping. Break out your favorite cookie cutters and give my favorite sugar cookie recipe a try. I’d love to hear what you think!

Directions
1. Cream together the butter and sugar. I set the butter out on the counter for about 30 minutes, chopped into small squares, to bring it to room temperature before beginning. (I have had bad luck with using the microwave to bring butter to room temperature.)
2. Beat in the eggs (I set these out on the counter with the butter to bring them to room temperature too), vanilla, and almond flavorings.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
4. One cup at a time, mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Scraping down your bowl as needed.
5. Divide dough up into three sections, Saran wrap, and refrigerate overnight. (For some reason cookies just taste better when the dough is refrigerated overnight.)
6. When you are ready to bake, take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes so it’s not too hard to work with.
7. After rolling and cutting your dough, set your dough shapes in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking to reduce spreading.
8. Bake on parchment paper lined baking sheets at 350 for 6 to 8 minutes.
9. After removing the cookies from the oven, let them sit for a couple of minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

74 Responses to Sugar Cookie Recipe

You asked for feedback so here it is. I’m sorry to report that this recipe was a disappointment. Though I’m a newbie cookie maker, I follow recipes to the T. When you take this dough out of the fridge it’s as hard as rock. When you roll it out it breaks up quickly (yes I used flour to cover my surface, etc.). By the 2nd rollout, the dough is unusable. I’ve just put my remaining dough back into the fridge to see if it can be salvaged. After baking, there’s cracking on the cookie surface which concerns me when it comes to decorating. They also seem to be a bit a on the brittle side.

When you need time to perfect your cookie decorating techniques, the last thing you want is to have to deal with a cookie dough catastrophe. Going back to my original recipe (though not perfect, worked better than this).

Amy, I must say that mine was a success. The cookies came out with, well let me say I used them for both RI and buttercream! Everyone liked the taste and texture! If it crumbled on you, I believe you didn’t mix with your hands before putting it in the fridge! Something that is always best with any sugar/shortbread cookie dough!

Let me say, I had a few issues with the recipes but I didn’t throw it out. The cookies have a wonderful taste and my whole family loves them. What I did when I wrap them in plastic, I flatten them out and didn’t leave it in a ball. I Then rolled my cookies between the plastic and it works Beautifully. My Favorite Recipe

I have the Royal Icing (that won’t dry rock hard) recipe from sugarkissed.net Where do I get oil free clear vanilla, oil free clear almond extract and oil free clear butter flavoring? Nothing I have says specifically “OIL FREE”. Can I assume that what I buy at the cake supply store is oil free?